Father and Son Get Long Terms In Defective Asbestos Removal

By MICHELLE YORK

Published: December 24, 2004

A father and son were sentenced Thursday to long prison terms after being convicted of running a statewide asbestos-removal operation that prosecutors said exposed countless people, especially their employees, to potentially fatal lung diseases.

Alexander Salvagno, 38, received 25 years in federal prison. His father, Raul Salvagno, 72, who worked as a partner at their corporation, A.A.R. Contractors of Albany, received a sentence of 19 years and 7 months. Craig Benedict, the assistant United States attorney who prosecuted the case, said the sentences were the longest ever handed down for an environmental crime.

The Salvagnos were also ordered to pay more than $23 million to victims in 1,555 buildings who were exposed to asbestos that A.A.R. workers spread in the air over the last decade by removing the insulating material without taking safety precautions. The buildings included churches, private homes, elementary schools, manufacturers, banks, a hospital, universities, nursing homes, a military arsenal, a museum, police barracks and the New York State Department of Labor Building, which houses the state's office of asbestos control.

The money will be set aside in a victims' fund to pay for additional cleanup and medical bills of those who develop cancer or asbestos-related lung disease.

Judge Howard G. Munson of Federal District Court here rejected a plea for leniency from Alexander Salvagno, who sought home confinement so he could help care for his severely disabled 4-year-old son. But the judge allowed him to delay the start of his prison sentence until at least Feb. 8, after the boy is scheduled to have an operation.

''I'm very happy with the sentence,'' Mr. Benedict said. ''The health aspect really drove this case. There is likely to be a large number of deaths caused by the Salvagnos's conduct.''

Several members of the jury, who sat through five months of trial testimony and convicted the men of racketeering and running a criminal enterprise, showed up for the sentencing. ''They probably started out with the right idea, but greed overtook them,'' said one juror, Sharon Kawa, 57. ''They made a ton of money.''

In their 10 years of doing business, the Salvagnos became multimillionaires by conspiring with their workers to rip dry asbestos illegally from buildings. The Clean Air Act required that the asbestos be wetted during removal and strictly contained, and that workers wear safety gear and masks.